WRC: Rally France

Steve · Sep 30, 2011

Kris Meeke furious after corner-marking pole nearly ends his Rally of France (autosport.com)

By David Evans | Friday, September 30th 2011, 11:26 GMT

The poles placed on the inside of the corners on the Rally de France stages came within millimetres of putting Kris Meeke's Mini John Cooper Works WRC out of the event.

Meeke's Mini, running in fourth place, struck one of the poles. The steel bar came through the front of the car and stopped just inches away from hitting the radiator.

"It's just stupid," said Meeke, "totally ridiculous. Fifty per cent of the poles have gone since we went through on the recce and a load more have been hit and bent.

"The pole we hit was at 45 degrees and pointing straight into the road, you couldn't get around it. It went into the front of the car and could have finished our rally.

"What's wrong with putting some straw bales on the line instead of these things?"

Skoda driver Juho Hanninen was another victim. The Finn was leading the S2000 class going into the third stage until he hit a pole which caused a front-right puncture.

Hanninen's co-driver Mikko Markkula explained: "The pole went through the bumper and into the tyre. We lost more than two minutes. It's very disappointing, but it could have been worse - the pole could have come straight into the car."

Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen suspected spectators had been tampering with the poles.

"They were all in the right place when the safety crews went through the stage before us, but then we get there and many of them are gone - I think it must be the spectators," he said. "It makes it very hard to commit to corners when you don't know if you are going to cut or not."

Hirvonen added that his own accident on the third stage was partly caused by the poles being removed.

"Okay, I was too fast, but the pole had been taken away as well, so this didn't help," he said.
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cooperjet · Sep 30, 2011

Wish it worked on the iPhone.

Steve · Sep 30, 2011

SS6: Sordo and Solberg joint quickest (wrc.com)

30 Sep 11
Stage data: SS6, Ungersberg 2 (15.45 kilometres)

Stage description:
By Pierre Campanaâ€™s co-driver Sabrina de Castelli : â€œThe stage starts in the vineyards again but after we go onto a wide road. We have some knowledge of this road because we did it in the French championship in 2009 but in reverse. Then we cross the village of Blienschwiller and after we take a narrow road and we arrive in Nothalten around some houses. Itâ€™s good for the spectators here. Then we go back into the vineyards, before taking another wide road again. We finish on a narrow road, which is bumpy and very difficult. Itâ€™s under the trees and itâ€™s possible for the surface to be dirty.â€

How the action unfolded:
MINI has claimed its first stage victory on a world championship rally after Dani Sordo shared the equal fastest time with Petter Solberg on the repeat of the Ungersberg test in his John Cooper Works WRC.

Spaniard Sordo and Norwegian Solberg, in a privateer Citroen DS3 WRC, both recorded a time of 9m04.9s through the 15.45-kilometre run. As a result Solberg [pictured above] continues to hold second overall, 1.2s up on Sordo.

Citroen Total World Rally Team driver Sebastien Ogier continues to lead Rallye de France Alsace. However, his advantage over Solberg has been trimmed to 5.0s after he could only set the fourth quickest time.

Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest Ford driver, 1.5s slower than Solberg and Sordo. His team-mate Mikko Hirvonen has demoted Mads Ostberg to sixth in the overall classification after going quicker than the M-Sport Stobart driver on the stage.

Henning Solberg has moved ahead of Monster World Rally Teamâ€™s Ken Block into 10th place.

Key moment:
Sordo claims first WRC stage win for MINI.

Wrc.com rally results links:
LIVE... TEXT... SERVICE... WRC.com users can keep up to date with all the action from France with our exclusive live text service. The service will be constantly updated when stages are live to provide a detailed record as the battle for glory unfolds. This link will take you straight to the Rallye de France - Alsace live text page.
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Gil-galad · Sep 30, 2011

Another sweet first milestone for the MINI WRC team. Nice.

cooperjet · Sep 30, 2011

Sounds like Dani is in the lead!

Steve · Sep 30, 2011

I'm loving listening to the commentary the last few minutes. Sordo's splits have been up on the leaders and the Brit commentators can hardly contain themselves that a MINI may be leading the rally. :lol:

cooperjet · Sep 30, 2011

It is definitely exciting!
:fingerscrossed: for tomorrow.

Steve · Sep 30, 2011

Very cool! MINI through the first day in 1st, 4th and Araujo is 7th!

Dani Sordo takes Rally of France lead for Mini at end of day one (autosport.com)

By Matt Beer | Friday, September 30th 2011, 14:13 GMT
Dani Sordo leads the Rally of France into day two, having put Mini into first position for the first time in its World Rally Championship comeback.

The Spaniard went into the afternoon in a close third behind Citroen's Sebastien Ogier and Solberg Citroen's Petter Solberg.

Ogier lost ground on the penultimate stage, fearing a problem with his car, and Solberg moved into the lead.

But Sordo then jumped both of them with an excellent time on the leg-closing Salm stage.

"I'm really, really, really happy," said Sordo. "I thnk we worked so hard for this and now it's in a good place.

"There are still two days to go but today was critical. To be leading the Citroens is very nice..."

Solberg will start day two exactly one second behind the Mini.

"The only thing is to go flat-out, that's the main thing," said Solberg.

Ogier completed the loop in third, 1.8s down on Solberg and 2.8s off the lead. He remained puzzled by his car's performance, having feared an engine problem on SS7.

"I don't know what happened exactly," said Ogier. "It smelled a lot of fuel in the car.

"I can be faster than that, I tried to push, and I lost time all the time. The team have to check it."

Kris Meeke escaped a spin on Salm to finish the day in fourth ahead of the two Fords, with Jari-Matti Latvala now ahead of Mikko Hirvonen, after another excursion for the title contender on SS7 dropped him down to sixth.

"We are a little bit behind, we should be a few places higher, but okay," Hirvonen admitted.

"It's been a difficult day, the rhythm hasn't been the best. Tomorrow I have to get at least two positions higher, so hopefully I can achieve that."

Adding to Mini's good day, privateer Armindo Araujo holds an excellent seventh position, having got ahead of Mads Ostberg when the Stobart Ford had a puncture.
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Steve · Sep 30, 2011

Sordo leads in France on historic day for MINI (crash.net)

Dani Sordo will lead going into the second day of Rallye de France - 1 second up on Petter Solberg; Sebastien Ogier is now third, but just 1.8 seconds further back.

Dani Sordo has finished the opening leg of Rallye de France on top, moving up from third to first in the final stage of the day, when he set the pace in Salm 2.

It was a day of firsts for the MINI World Rally Team and off the back of Sordo's strong third in Germany last month the Spaniard was again on it. Indeed he took the team's first scratch time in SS6 - when he was joint fastest with Petter Solberg - and he then gave MINI an outright stage win in SS8, a result that put the John Cooper Works WRC car at the head of the overall leaderboard for the very first time.

Sordo had run strongly throughout the day and after finishing the morning loop in third, just 6.6 seconds off the lead, he put in a charge on the repeat-runs, eventually ending proceedings 1 second up on Solberg.

â€œI'm really, really happy,â€ Sordo told the official WRC site. â€œWe have been working so hard for this and now we're in a good place. There are still two days to go but today has been really good. To be leading Citroen at home is very nice.â€

Solberg, who had moved into the lead in SS7, was delighted with his day and revealed that he has saved some new tyres for days two and three.

â€œWe pushed very hard. The thing is to go flat out, that's the main thing. There's so much gravel,â€ said the Citroen privateer. â€œI made one mistake. But I wanted to keep my tyres for the last days so that's why I haven't put new ones on today.â€

Sebastien Ogier completes the top-three and having increased his mid-day lead from 5 seconds to 7.7 seconds after SS5, he was disappointed to slip back and only be fourth fastest in SS6 and SS7 and third in SS8. The Frenchman complained of a lack of power, but remains in well in the hunt, only 1.8 seconds off P2 and 2.8 seconds off the lead â€“ assuming there is nothing sinister wrong with his DS3.

Kris Meeke is next up and fourth in the second works MINI John Cooper WRC and despite a spin in SS8, he remains ahead of the Ford Abu Dhabi WRT cars of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen. Both Latvala and Hirvonen lost time this morning in SS3 and Hirvonen had another moment this afternoon in SS7, something that has done little to help his cause.

Armindo Araujo, M-Sport Stobart man, Mads Ostberg and Dennis Kuipers lie in positions 7 through to 9, with Henning Solberg now tenth ahead of Evgeny Novikov and SWRC class leader, Ott Tanak. Tanak increased his lead in the SWRC this afternoon from 59.2 seconds post-SS4 to 1 minute 48.7 seconds going into the overnight halt. Eyvind Brynildsen remains second in the class and Martin Prokop lies third.

As for retirees, Sebastien Loeb was the biggest casualty, going out this morning in SS3 due to engine problems. He will not re-start tomorrow, something that looks likely to cost him his lead in the drivers' championship.

F1 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen has also gone out, after an incident with Henning Solberg on the road section between SS2 and SS3. Kimi could have rejoined, but has instead elected to go home.

The action now continues on Saturday with 148.39 competitive kilometres on the bill - and nine stages.

SS9, the 9.87 km-run through Hohlandsbourg 1, begins at 08.23 hours local time [07.23 hours UK time].
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phydeaux · Sep 30, 2011

Yay for MINI! Wish I could watch this all live, but I'll just have to wait for the HDT recap show.

Steve · Sep 30, 2011

Drive of the day: Dani Sordo (maxrally.com)

30th September 2011
By Anthony Peacock

Dani Sordo might have underachieved during a four-year stint with the factory Citoen team but his pace on asphalt has never been disputed. However, few would have tipped the Spaniard to be leading in France after day one in a car still in the early stages of development.

Granted, Sebastien Loebâ€™s retirement and the mistakes made by works Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala, have provided a helping hand, but Sordo has excelled in the emerging Mini and is a deserving recipient of our Drive of the Day award.

Rarely outside the top three stage times, the Spaniard was joint quickest on stage six before going fastest of all on stage eight to snatch the rally lead from Petter Solberg.

His margin is only 1.0s heading into day two but based on his performance on Friday, thereâ€™s every chance that Sordo will still be in front on Saturday night.
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Steve · Sep 30, 2011

VERY cool footage here.

France 2011: Sordo takes overnight lead

minimark · Sep 30, 2011

Very cool indeed!!!

Wow, it's truly impressive how well they are doing so early, go Bulldog!!!!

Thanks for the link!!

Gil-galad · Sep 30, 2011

minimark said: ↑

Very cool indeed!!!

Wow, it's truly impressive how well they are doing so early, go Bulldog!!!!

Thanks for the link!!
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+1

It's hard to avoid getting excited prematurely...but man, this could be big!

Crashton · Sep 30, 2011

One day down two to go. Fingers crossed....

Justa Jim · Sep 30, 2011

:fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:

Jim

Steve · Oct 1, 2011

A great fight going on for the lead! Here's the Day 2 half way report from MINI Motorsport:

Sordo Regains the Lead.

Having temporarily surrendered the lead at the Rally France, Dani Sordo produced another top performance on the final special stage of the morning.

Special Stage 12: Dani produces another spectacular drive just before the halfway point on day two. Dani sets the fastest time on the longest special stage of the day, and heads into the break just 0.2 seconds ahead of SÃ©bastien Ogier at the top of the field. "That was a difficult stage," says Dani. "However, the MINI WRC is running superbly and we were well prepared." Special praise goes to Dani's co-driver Carlos del Barrio, who, in the run-up to the rally, had highlighted the eleventh stage as being crucial to the overall result on day two in his "Carlos Confidential" column. Kris Meeke surrenders fourth place overall to Jari-Matti Latvala, who is 9.1 seconds faster than Kris and sets the third fastest time of the stage. Kris and co-driver Paul Nagle will start the afternoon half a second behind Latvala. A further five special stages are scheduled for this afternoon.

Special Stage 11: Bad luck for Solberg. Having set the fastest time on stage ten, he now suffers a puncture, causing him to lose a lot of time and thus the overall lead in the rally. This may be good news for Dani, but Ogier is 3.8 seconds quicker than Dani and so moves into the lead, 3.3 seconds ahead of the MINI WRC Team driver. Latvala clocks the third fastest time, while Kris is fifth fastest, meaning Kris's lead over Latvala is down to just 8.6 seconds.

Special Stage 10: Solberg comes up trumps, clocking the stage's fastest time. He may be only 0.9 seconds faster than Dani, but that is enough to move him into the lead. Dani is now 0.6 seconds behind Solberg in second place, with Ogier in third. Kris loses 4.4 seconds on his closest rival Latvala, but remains in fourth place overall with a lead of 14.9 seconds over the Finn.

Special Stage 9: Dani begins day two of the Rally France with a one-second lead over Solberg in second place, and starts the day with the third fastest time on special stage nine. Solberg is quicker, but only by 0.7 seconds, meaning Dani retains the lead. Kris backs up yesterday's strong performances. Despite working from completely new pace notes, having never driven in the WRC in France before, he finishes fourth fastest on this stage.
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Steve · Oct 1, 2011

I missed it on the live feed but I think Kris Meeke went off on stage 13 and couldn't get the car back to the road.

------------

They sent the trailer out to retrieve the car, so not good news.

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Driver and co-driver described as "shaken but not too badly stirred." :lol:

minimark · Oct 1, 2011

Thanks for the update!

Steve · Oct 1, 2011

Sad confirmation:

Meeke crashes out in France (wrc.com)

01 Oct 11

Kris Meeke is out of Rallye de France Alsace following his crash on stage 13 of the world championship qualifier, Hohlandsbourg.

Briton Meeke and Irish co-driver Paul Nagle were in a strong fifth overall when they skated off the road after going over a patch of gravel on the 9.87-kilometre test.

Both crew were uninjured although it is understood their MINI John Cooper Works WRC suffered extensive damage after it struck a tree stump some 15 metres off the road.

The MINI WRC Teamâ€™s technical mentor David Lapworth confirmed the car is beyond immediate repair and Meeke wonâ€™t be able to restart under SupeRally regulations on day two.

â€œUnfortunately a small mistake has had major consequences,â€ said Lapworth. â€œItâ€™s disappointing because Kris was doing a great job. We canâ€™t be too harsh on him because it happens.â€

Meekeâ€™s team-mate, Dani Sordo, remains in contention for victory. After 14 stages, the Spaniard is less than five seconds behind leader Sebastien Ogier.
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